UN war tribunal presses Nigeria to arrest former Liberian leader

Nigeria was under pressure from a UN war crimes tribunal to arrest the former Liberian president, Charles Taylor, yesterday, as concerns grew that he might flee to evade trial. The UN prosecutor, Desmond de Silva, said he had asked Nigeria's president, Olusegun Obasanjo, to arrest Mr Taylor "to avoid the possibility of him using his wealth and associates to slip away, with grave consequences to the stability of the region".

Mr Taylor, who is wanted on war crimes charges in Liberia's neighbour, Sierra Leone, was granted refuge in Nigeria in 2003. But earlier this month Liberia's new president, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, formally called for his extradition, and on Saturday Mr Obasanjo said Liberia was free to take him into custody. But Mr de Silva said: "The watching world will wish to see Taylor held in Nigerian detention."

Human Rights Watch warned yesterday that it was an "unfair burden" to expect Liberia to mount an attempt to detain Mr Taylor on Nigerian soil. "Nigeria has to ensure that he is handed over," said Corinne Dufka, the head of Human Rights Watch's west Africa programme.

Mr Taylor is wanted for fuelling a brutal war in Sierra Leone by supporting rebels there in exchange for diamonds. His exile from Liberia was brokered in a peace deal in which he agreed to step down as president in return for safe haven in Nigeria.

The possibility of an arrest met with mixed reaction in Liberia. "There is no celebration," said James Makor, head of a local NGO, Save My Future Foundation, from the capital Monrovia. "People are trying to put their lives back together and are worried that this may cause unrest."